To: Board of Directors
From: Long Range Planning Committee
As an introduction to our recommendations, Committee members wish to recognize and affirm important changes of the past year with the hope that our work can build on these positive achievements. Foremost among these are (1) reconstitution of the Board to include the positions of past, present and future Presidents, thereby strengthening and providing greater continuity to our leadership; (2) an astonishing increase in our congregational membership; (3) significant growth in and the healthy functioning of our religious education program; (4) a revitalized and re-energized Social Action Committee with a community outreach focus; and (5) completion of our long-awaited building addition, in the face of daunting barriers.
The scope of our charge, while entailing review of the 2002 Congregational Survey and revision of the current Five Year Plan for 2002-2007, further included identifying and elaborating more specific action plans than presently exist. To this end, the following topic areas were assigned to committee members for development: leadership, organizational adjustment, growth, religious education, and social action, with a shared responsibility to address building and space issues.
In our assigned areas, we each contacted other committees to assess the status of current Five Year Plan objectives, and solicit suggestions for changing programs or services. We also reviewed and extracted relevant information from UUA and PSD websites, as well as from direct contacts with their staff members. Finally, we conducted a survey of other PSD congregations regarding their experiences and actions on similar topics.
Our recommendations are contained in the attached FIVE YEAR PLAN for 2004-2009. You will note the change in format to provide more specific objectives than in the past, and a breakout of objectives only by Year 1 and Years 2-5. We found it too difficult and perhaps not realistic to delineate our recommendations, after Year 1, for succeeding years.
In line with this changed format, we further recommend that the Long Range Planning Committee each year be responsible for (a) assessing the status of recommendations in the current year; and (b) developing specific objectives for the following year.
We are also including three appendices which provide important elaboration for some of our recommendations:
We would like to conclude with a general observation about the year ahead. While we envision significant and potentially far reaching changes in the future, we have placed a heavy initial emphasis on planning. This is predicated on our belief that the next year is best devoted to living in our new space, learning how to use it in the most equitable manner, strengthening our infrastructure, and achieving some stability with our new activities and growth.
Mark Chekola
Ron Hutchison
Jane Peterson
Maggie Scott, Chair